Pouch and bag openers are known for insertion of products. However, these stationary bag openers are often complicated and bulky, and not portable.
These complicated and bulky pouch and bag opening machines can be useful for packaging of pre-measured liquid or solid food products from automated dispensers which control the exact amount of food introduced into the package.
However, in manufacture of small medical devices, the product to be inserted is often a single discrete, specially manufactured device such as a syringe, a patient monitoring device or a precision single use surgical or dental tool. There are occasions when more than one device will need to be inserted, or one or more devices will need to be inserted with other components, desiccants, instructions, etc. They are often transported manually during manufacture and sterilization, and are not conducive to insertion by complicated bulky packaging machines at a single location in a manufacturing facility.
In the absence of complicated, costly bulky stationary packaging devices, especially in small medical device manufacturing facilities, the pouches for holding single items are manually opened and sealed, often increasing the risk of repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, to the employees conducting the pouch opening and insertion of products therein.
In addition, the use of complicated and bulky stationary pouch and bag openers prevents their portability, which restricts their use in different locations of a manufacturing facility. These stationary machines can't be readily moved between operator. stations.
Moreover, the permanently installed, bulky pouch opening machines cannot be moved to other locations, such as at facilities of remote contractors manufacturing parts for insertion into the pouches.
Among related patents include U.S. Pat. No. 2,601,480 of Williams for a frame mounted bag opening and spreading mechanism which uses puffs of air to open the bags, U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,988 of Feinstein for a base-mounted multi-mechanism packing and sealing apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 2,969,629 of Blais for a multi-slotted packaging apparatus for bales of smaller boxes, U.S. Pat. No. 2,973,612 of McGowan for a multi-gear, multi-pulley bag opener mechanism with a mechanical funnel skirt made of two pivotable skirt halves and U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,515 of Inglett for an automated bag hanger.
Other related patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,243,937 of Ragan and U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,378 of Kipers, both for bag openers having a plurality of bag opening elements on a continuous belt, U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,605 of Chevalier for a bag opener with moving jaws, U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,216 of Martin for a post mounted bag feeder and closer using fluid pressurized clamps, U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,951 of Schneider for a cam and gear controlled packaging machine for filling food packages and U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,358 of Henderson for a floor mounted bag transporter and filler.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,349 of Lipes discloses a bagging machine having a mechanical retractor for opening a bag and U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,313 of Koppe describes a pouch forming and filling apparatus which synchronizes the filling of pouches from a plurality of product dispensing funnels and the sealing of the filled bags.
Other patents include U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,776 of Chikatani for a floor mounted filling and binding packaging machine, U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,465 of Fortnam for a bag opener with arcuate strip springs which spread apart, U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,898 of Gabree and U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,645 of Burford for openers and fillers for bags which use the pressurized force of air jets to open the bags, U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,817 of Hood for an opener and filler for a wicketed bag which uses a pressurized fluid to open the bags and U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,051 of Preiss for an inserter mechanism for inserting individual pills into plastic blister packs for single dosages.
However, these generally bulky, complicated stationary prior art devices do not describe portable devices which can be easily set up for insertion of single discrete, specially manufactured devices which can be moved between operator stations to fit the rapidly changing needs of manufacturers, especially in the specialty medical manufacturing field at variable locations, both on and off site.